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Particular Examination

3 min
Sign of the Cross

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In nómine Patris, et Fílii, et Spíritus Sancti. Amen.

Petition for Light

Come, Holy Spirit

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Thy faithful,

and kindle in them the fire of Thy love.

Veni, Sancte Spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium,

et tui amoris in eis ignem accende.

Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created.

Emitte Spiritum tuum et creabuntur.

And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

Et renovabis faciem terrae.

Let us pray. O God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit

didst instruct the hearts of the faithful,

grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things,

and evermore to rejoice in His consolation.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Oremus. Deus, qui corda fidelium Sancti Spiritus illustratione docuisti,

da nobis in eodem Spiritu recta sapere,

et de eius semper consolatione gaudere.

Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

O my God, give me light to know my sins and see their real deformity, and to realize what a bad and bitter thing it is to stray from Thee. Grant me grace to see clearly my miseries, and to detest them with all my heart.

The Morning, on This One Point

Your particular examination should be directed towards the acquisition of a definite virtue or the rooting out of your predominant defect. (The Way §241)

Toward noon, ask of God the grace to remember how often you have fallen into it, and to avoid it for the future. Then examine, thinking over the time passed since your rising, ascertaining the number of faults committed, and marking them by so many points in the first line of a table. This done, renew your resolutions for the rest of the day.

At each fault against the resolutions you have taken, as soon as you recollect yourself, put your hand on your heart and repent of your fall. This can be done without being observed by any one.

Act of Sorrow

O my dear Lord, through Thy infinite mercy pardon me my many sins and faults. I am heartily sorry for them, because by them I have grieved and wounded Thy Sacred Heart and rendered myself so unworthy of Thy love. I am sorry from my heart for the ungrateful return I have made Thee for all Thy goodness to me. Forgive me, dear Lord, pierce my heart with true sorrow. I love Thee above all things.

Purpose of Amendment

My Lord and my God, I now firmly resolve with Thy help to correct my faults — to overcome specially that one, N.N., which I am determined not to commit again. Confirm this my resolution by the merits of Thy bitter Passion and death, which I now offer in satisfaction for my sins. My dear Jesus! I unite my poor heart with Thine all wounded and torn. May Thy Heart be a hiding-place in which I may dwell securely. My heart is ready, O my God! my heart is ready to make atonement for my sins, to adopt the means of correcting my faults.

Our Father

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

Amen.

Pater noster, qui es in cælis,

sanctificétur nomen tuum.

Advéniat regnum tuum.

Fiat volúntas tua, sicut in cælo et in terra.

Panem nostrum quotidiánum da nobis hódie,

et dimítte nobis débita nostra,

sicut et nos dimíttimus debitóribus nostris.

Et ne nos indúcas in tentatiónem,

sed líbera nos a malo.

Amen.

Hail Mary

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou amongst women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners,

now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

Ave María, grátia plena, Dóminus tecum.

Benedícta tu in muliéribus,

et benedíctus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.

Sancta María, Mater Dei,

ora pro nobis peccatóribus,

nunc et in hora mortis nostræ.

Amen.

Sign of the Cross

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In nómine Patris, et Fílii, et Spíritus Sancti. Amen.

About this prayer

Two or three minutes at midday on one single point — a defect to uproot or a virtue to grow, chosen with your director and kept for weeks. Distinct from the general examination at night: this one asks about one thing only.

History

St. Ignatius set out the particular examen at the start of the *Spiritual Exercises* (nn. 24–31): on rising, resolve to guard against one sin or defect; after the midday meal, ask for grace to remember how often you fell into it, count the falls and mark them on a line; after supper, do the same — and compare the two lines, and one day with the next.

St. Josemaría kept it among the daily norms and fixed its object: *Your particular examination should be directed towards the acquisition of a definite virtue or the rooting out of your predominant defect* (*The Way* §241). Lasance's manual, from which the prayers here are taken, adds that it *should be continued until it is entirely overcome, or, at least, notably weakened*.

How to pray it

Toward noon, after the Angelus. The subject is one only: the sin or defect, or the virtue, you have resolved on, and it is kept until it gives way.

1. Ask God for light. 2. Go over the time since rising on that one point, and count the falls. 3. Make an act of sorrow. 4. Renew the purpose for the rest of the day.

Through the day, at each fall, put your hand on your heart and repent of it.

Prayers and method from F. X. Lasance, [*Prayer-Book for Religious*](https://archive.org/details/prayerbookforrel00lasa_0/page/189/mode/2up) (Benziger, 1904): *Method of Particular Examination* (pp. 80–81) and *Another Short Method of Daily Examen* (pp. 191–192), the last clause of the purpose of amendment omitted. Petition to the Holy Spirit from the Opus Dei *Pocket Prayer Book*. Method after St. Ignatius of Loyola, *Spiritual Exercises* nn. 24–31; object from St. Josemaría Escrivá, *The Way* §241.

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